A New Knight in Camelot
by meganstar8
Summary: You can't be a knight if you're not a noble, you can't be a knight if you're a woman-Megwynne hasn't got a lot going for her. The only thing that is in favour of her becoming a knight is the fact that she's a keen swordswoman. Can Arthur change the laws of Camelot so she can live her dream and become a knight. In the process there seems to be a spark be a between her and Merlin.
1. The Mystery Rider

It was a late summers evening in the kingdom Camelot. The sun was setting over the horizon in shades of red, orange and yellow. Prince Arthur was dining with his father, and Merlin was serving them as he usually did on these rare occasions.

"More wine sire?" asked Merlin in a dull, monotone voice.

The king merely waved his hand from the wine in the direction of the cup, not even pausing his current conversation with Arthur. Merlin obliged, although he was tired of being ordered around by unappreciative people like him. He wondered how much longer he would have to wait before releasing the burden he was carrying at the moment. Unknown to Arthur, the King, the Knights, Gwen, Morgana-essentially everyone bedsides Merlin's dearest friend and guardian Gaius, and the knight Sir Lancelot, Merlin had magic-he was a sorcerer.

"BOY!" bellowed the king in his deepest ,most commanding voice.

"Apologies sire." Stuttered Merlin as he abruptly poured the kings wine, almost missing the goblet.

"Your thoughts do not seem to be with you on this night boy, I suggest you remember your position" said the king with a hint of dictatorship in his voice.

Merlin simply nodded, becoming increasingly embarrassed at his position, as Arthur seemed to find it entertaining, which he indicated by the fact that he now appeared to be chocking on his food after an inward snicker didn't work to his favour. Somehow Merlin knew that he would be teased for this later...

"Arthur whatever is the matter?" Questioned Uther in a concerned tone.

"*COUGH* Just sw*COUGH*swallowed *COUGH* the wrong way *COUGH COUGH*"

"Would you like to be excused?" It seemed apparent that the king was in a good mood.

"No father I..."

It was at this point when Merlin ceased paying attention as he heard a loud clanking noise coming from beyond the doors of the chamber. The doors opened to reveal two knights laying unconscious upon the stone cold floor. Suddenly a cold air engulfed the room, and it was almost as if the sun set at that precise moment-the room went dark.

"Sir Leon, Sir Percival?" Arthur waited for a response but received none.

Clank clank clank, the racket grew ever nearer.

"My lord you should go" Arthur stated in a protective voice as he drew his sword, when he knew his father was angry or upset he always addressed him as my lord.

Uther opened his mouth to reply, he didn't get the chance...

A tall, elegant, silver horse cantered into the room. Its bridle was polished and shining, one of the finest Merlin had ever seen. The horse was so clean and well groomed it seemed to give off a glow of it's own, like moonlight. The rider seemed very tall but slender. They were wearing gleaming silver armour(clearly freshly polished) with a helmet that kept the identity of the mystery rider just that.

As the horse came to a halt before Merlin and Arthur, the rider dismounted in the most fluent motion and hit the floor with the sound of a pin reaching the ground. They stood there staring at each other not sure of what to say. Uther was eyeing the rider up and down, he noticed the crest they bore, of which he had never seen before-this gave him a feeling of unease.

"Who are you, what do you want and were do you come from?" Asked the young prince

As the unknown character removed their helmet, a waterfall of brown wavy locks were unveiled from within the iron guard, framing her heart shaped, pale face. She(as it was now apparent that she was a she) untwisted her hair and ran her fingers through it before replying,

" I am Megwynne Strathmore of Eoforwic." She voiced with pride in an official way-she wanted people to believe that she should be there.

She smiled and nodded towards Merlin in a friendly manner,

"But you can call me Meg" and winked.


	2. Merlin Besotted

"What is the meaning of this intrusion?" exclaimed the now extremely flustered

king.

"Well I couldn't be sure you'd let me see you could I? So I

sealed the deal myself! Don't worry, they're just unconscious..." she trailed

off her sentence with a feeling of guilt, the king had a point, now she had

sauntered in with a sarcastic manner, how could she be sure to receive what she

was after.

"I wish to become a knight of Camelot!" she declared with

her head held high.

Arthur hid a grin-albeit not very well.

"You can't be serious!" roared Uther

"You enter my kingdom, my castle, you knocked out two of my best knights..."

"Four actually" interrupted Meg

"I'm having a good day! And doesn't that prove my worth, the fact that I can take on four of your fully grown knights of Camelot?" She genuinely believed this to be true(if Megwynne wanted something, she would stop at nothing until she got it!)

"And you are so foolish to interrupt ME!" He said this with disgust.

"GUARDS!"

"Erm...I hate to interrupt you again sire but I think that your guards...the ones that I didn't knock unconscious...may be a bit tied up right now..." she mumbled.

"Doing what, may I ask?" He sounded interested in what this girl could have done to distract his finest men.

"No...um..I mean tied up...like literally..."she was now quite scared at the prospect of what might happen to her. She had heard how strict of a king Uther was;he usually resorted to beheading in circumstances like these.

"Arthur take this deviling little imp to the cells until I decide what to do with her!"

"Yes father." Arthur obeyed.

As he was marching Megwynne out of the room, he noticed Merlin, still standing there with the wine in his hand, staring at Meg.

"Merlin what on God's earth are you doing snap out of it!"

Megwynne giggled.

"Sorry sire I didn't sleep well last night." As he said this his ears burnt red like embers.

"Okay Merlin. Well I would like you to accompany me as after we have taken her to the cells, I would like you to help me rouse the unconscious and untie the men."

Both Merlin and Arthur knew for a fact that this was untrue, all Arthur wanted was for Merlin to have to spend more time with this girl that he clearly was besotted by. As they walked the corridors of the castle with Meg in front were she could clearly be seen, Arthur repeatedly glanced at Merlin then at Meg, silently laughing. Trying to keep his mind off what(or rather who) he was thinking about, Merlin began looking around, anywhere but at her. But that was when he noticed.

"Megwynne, I have never seen your crest before, where is Eoforwick?"He asked eagerly.

"Merlin." Arthur said it with a hint of dictatorship, not as much as his father, nevertheless it was there.

Megwynne turned around giggling again, hiding behind her glossy hair. "Clearly further away than any of your friend's knights have cared to look, am I right?"

Arthur looked decisively at her. She had no fear in speaking her mind about what she thought of people. Her and Merlin would make the perfect couple considering Merlin had called him a clotpole only hours before...and a dollop head yesterday...

"I have never heard talk of this Eoforwick but I'm sure my father has." Arthur told Meg with certainty.

"You have a such faith in him of which I have never seen before from a son." As she said this she seemed to drift off into her own memories-forgetting herself.

"I could show you Eorforwick sometime..." She said enthusiastically, eyeing up Merlin. This time Merlin's whole face beamed scarlet like a tomato.

"If you two are quite finished." he said impatiently as they reached the cells.

"Now if you wouldn't mind miss..." He indicated towards the door as he unlocked it.

"No problem at all...Arthur" She emphasized his name as if she was daring him to say something.

He didn't bite. As she entered the cell he threw down her helmet and sword, then

sat down in the corner cross-legged, and smiled at Arthur.

"Oh and just incase your not aware, there is no chance that you are never going to become a

knight of Camelot." He chuckled and began to walk away.

Meg was on her feet and at the cell door before he could take another step "And may I ask why

not?" She questioned.

"Well what kind of family do you come from-not nobles I take it..."

"Farmers..."

"And this one may be obvious but as my friend Merlin has already concluded you are a woman."

"I..." Merlin was lost for words.

"Don't worry Merlin, nothing to be embarrassed about. See there comes a time in life were you will actually start to pay attention to girls and you may..."

"Just because you're the prince doesn't mean that you can treat him

like that you know..."

Meg felt like she should be sticking up for Merlin, she only known the man all of half an hour, but she felt drawn to him for some reason.

"In actual fact, being the prince typically means that i can treat people whichever way i want."

Meg stood up, red with ire and said

"Your horrible to your servants, and you believe gender affects the performance in battle-I thought you were supposed to be some great future king...or have I come to the wrong place?"

If Meg wasn't a girl, and there wasn't a thick wooden door standing between them, Arthur would of usually resorted to punching by now.

Megwynne ambled over to the door and dropped her gauntlet.

"What are you doing?" Arthur said in disbelief.

"I'm sure you know what this means just as well as I do."

"I can't fight you, you're a..." He didn't want to finish this sentence because he somehow knew she would have something to say about this.

"What, a woman, oh, are you undecided because you're to noble or because you're scared that you may be beaten by a woman...I would say the latter."

Megwynne was very good at getting what she wanted, she would tease and taunt until she got it. This was proved when Arthur asked Merlin for the keys and picked up the gauntlet set upon the floor.

"Noon tomorrow i will send Merlin to come and fetch you, he would appreciate the extra time

with you I'm sure." He said in a solemn voice, but then tried to end on a cheery note.

"Sire," this was the first time she had addressed him correctly since they had met which indicated her seriousness,

"I hope you realize that the ritual of the gauntlet implies a fight to the death..." Arthur barely nodded and left the room.

"MERLIN WILL YOU STOP STARING AT HER!" Swiftly, Merlin ran up the stairs turning back to smile at Megwynne.

"See you at twelve tomorrow."

"Don't be late, I don't think your friend will be happy." She forced a smile.

"MERLIN!"


End file.
